That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus.
Christ is Risen! Alleluia!
He is truly risen! Alleluia!
But Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, and gave up His spirit.
Our central theme for the past five weeks of Lent and Passiontide has been living sacrificially. We explored the fact that sacrifice is covenantal.
In our sacrifices we enhance the pre-existing relationship we have with God. We accept our agreement with God’s plan and rule, find joy in that, reinforce our acceptance of it, and tear away at the things that stand in the way of a deeper union with God.
This is the work of our God and Father, to send His only Son into the world. His Son came to establish an everlasting covenant with us. He did this not through the sacrifice of bulls, and goats, and other creatures but to be the sacrificial Lamb Himself.
His blood marks the boundaries of this new covenant, this place of being in which we His faithful live.
The Father, by this willing sacrifice of Jesus, tells us repeatedly, in each Holy Mass, that we are worth it. His Son comes to us and gives us His very flesh and blood under the appearance and taste of bread and wine so that we might receive Him, so that He could be literally within us.
His sacrifice and agreement to remain with us asks for our yes. He asks us to live a devoted life, yes in Church prayer, but even more so in our homes, workplaces, and social circles. In our excursions, vacations, travel, when we shop, talk to others, go online, or merely relax. In our mornings, to wake with Him on our lips and in our hearts, as we go to sleep with Him on our lips and in our hearts.
Christ’s sacrifice, made in accordance with His Father’s will – God offered up for us – created a new reality, so must we work to bring that reality to all we encounter. As St. Paul says: He died for me so I might live for Him.
